Prison lawsuit

Bob CampbellMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 9:00 pm, Saturday, January 2, 2010

- December 2008 death of epileptic inmate touched off Reeves County Detention Center riot

By Bob Campbell

Staff Writer

El Paso attorneys are almost finished preparing a lawsuit against the company that operates Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos and a Lubbock physicians' group in the case of an epileptic 32-year-old inmate who died on Dec. 12, 2008, one of the attorneys said.

Representing the wife, three children and parents of Jesus Manuel Galindo, Miguel "Mike" Torres said he will file suit against the Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., which operates the 2,400 inmate lockup for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, and Physicians Network Association of Lubbock, which had been providing the inmates medical care when Galindo was found dead in an isolation cell in the prison's Security Housing Unit.

Torres said he and co-counsel Leon Schydlower and defense lawyers have sought documents and conducted extensive witnesses' depositions since the 7 a.m. discovery of Galindo's body started a prison riot in which the recreation center was burned, three inmates were hospitalized and 25 were charged with assault and other crimes.

Galindo, of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, was serving 30 months for illegal entry into the U.S.

Torres said the petition will be filed in Judge Bob Parks' 143rd District Court in Monahans. "We're very close to filing and it is a significant claim we're going to make," he said.

"It's a very wrongful death and we want to do our homework and be absolutely ready. A big part of this case has been obtaining documents. PNA will also very likely be a party."

Torres said Galindo's relatives believe his medical needs were inadequately attended to because they had been prevailing on prison officials to give him full doses of his medicine, Dilantin, and administer it at the prescribed intervals.

"We really want to get justice for the family," said Torres, who had told of attending the man's funeral at an "overflowing" south El Paso funeral home. "There are a lot of layers to this case, but for us it's simple. They should have provided medical care right there and treated him decently and they didn't."